1966 Mako Shark II 427 Corvette Illustrated Series No.28

Here's the story:
lllustrated Corvette Series No. 28 1966 Mako Shark II Show Car Corvette
"The Running Prototype"

When the Mako Shark II was first shown at the April 1965 New York Auto Show, jaws dropped and the automotive press gasped. However, making a beautiful clay show car is one thing, making a functional road version is a completely different story.

GM tech experts Ken Eschebach and Art Carpenter headed up the crew that put every conceivable performance and luxury goodie you could think of into the running Mako Shark II. The chassis and running gear used standard 1966 Corvette parts. Under the hood was the brand-new 427 Mark IV engine coupled with the not-yet-available-in- the-Corvette three-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission.

The entire front end tilted forward like an XK-E Jaguar. The headlights were made up of three quartz-iodide beams that were covered with "eyelid" panels. The top surface of the hood had cooling vents and round lids for fluid refills. The windshield wipers were hidden in a closet at the base of the windshield. At the back end, the window slats, bumper and spoiler were all electrically controlled from the interior. The seats were in a fixed position, while the gas and brake pedals were adjustable. Seat frames had racer-like, four-point seat belts. The roof- mounted headrests were adjustable, and had speakers connected to an AM/FM radio. Lights and windshield wiper controls were on the turn signal stalks and the dash had neon digital readouts. The car used seventeen electric motors to power various features.

In October 1965 the Mako Shark began a six month European tour and was the "avant garde" machine. For a show car, the Mako Shark was the closest to an actual production Corvette. Over 30 years later, it's still a stunning machine.